jellodog
Rock Star
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I hear ya. Got the FM9T. I'm about 93% "cured".
Wait.
Is that really cured?
Fractal Talk
- Thread starter laxu
- Start date
I hear ya. Got the FM9T. I'm about 93% "cured".
Wait.
Is that really cured?
GTR37
Rock Star
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IMO that’s gone on way too long
For something so simple
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I just saw it was a thing now, the first thing that came to my mind was the ToneTalk with James Brown, he tells the story about how he was sending Ed the final versions of the amp, like what was going to production. Ed said there was one he preferred over the others, I think it was 5 heads? James was like, “WTF? They’re the same fucking heads!” but come to find out, someone used an irregular pot somewhere because they didn’t have enough of the others. It was literally the difference of one pot.
I don’t know if it’s the same pot in question, I actually got fucking sick of hearing that particular episode of ToneTalk because it auto plays when I’m in my studio, that and the Fryette episode I’ve probably heard as background noise 30x each…..but now I’m going to listen to it again.
Gotta admit, my left eye has been twitching a bit seeing all the goodies adding up on the III.
But then I open the FM9 amp, reverb and drive list and I'm good. Even gapless switching isn't something I "need". I'm just jamming at home at this point.
Oops, there's another twitch.
Same here. OG FM9 and there's not a problem I have solved by the new amp models, reverbs and mods. They're fun to play with I'm sure, but I'm in an ANTI-tweaking/experimentation space right now, and my productivity this year has never been higher.
The candy store aspect of Fractal devices is undeniable, but how can anyone "lack" given the state of the firmware a few months back without this stuff? It's more completerererer, now!
Stratzrus
Roadie
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- 822
I'm in the same boat. I have no gas for any new modelers since I have the FM9 and the III. I mostly hang out here to learn stuff and every once in a while see a product that I didn't know about like the FR-12.
But I do still wrestle with what mode of amplification to use with my Fractal gear.
I'm currently trying to decide what to use at my Jazz gigs between my Fender George Benson Hot Rod Deluxe, my Blackstar St. James combo, my Fender FR-12, and I'm picking up a Rivera 55 Jazz Suprema Recording 1x12 combo.
So I guess I can't say I have absolutely no GAS, just no GAS for a new modeler.
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GTR37
Rock Star
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I bet thats It , Ed had a dislike for to much high end , he said in an interview he wanted a nice warm round sound not like someone was chucking razor blades at you
He probably just liked the sweep better as there was less top end where he was setting it
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I found myself somewhat overwhelmed at first just because there is a tendency to think you have to use everything and live in a perpetual demo state. I’m landing back where it all began, SLO clean and a Marshall for some gain. Everything else is just for those rainy days and moments of experimentation.
I hope Cliff never considers it “done“, and it’s awesome he still seems to have his foot on the gas. May he keep at it until the SSV2, Badlander and “Fractal Presents: Neural plugins“ update. (Grano, Cali etc)
There is still ground left to cover.
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unix-guy
Roadie
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- 850
I don't think so...
How many Cliffs are there? The Axe Fx III is his baby and he's a Wizard.
The other guys that have to keep up with him are going to take longer and they have to figure out how to fit what he's done into platforms with less capacity.
Don't forget that there was basically more than a year where there were only a couple hundred FM9s in the wild (I had one). It didn't make too much since to prioritize the FM9 at that point.
SwirlyMaple
Shredder
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- 1,329
The current spring reverbs in the FM9 are objectively lacking. But the new ones in the Axe-FX are great. So that's a legitimate one.
Otherwise, there are a few things that seem like low-hanging fruit. A proper CE-1 model, for instance -- there's even a "roll-your-own" preset for it in the FM9, but why not have it as a dedicated effect type? (I'd also reaaaally love for it to be fully modeled with its crappy clippy pre-amp and hi/lo circuits, which each play a big role in its tone.)
Nitpicking aside, almost everything sounds so great that you can get what you need one way or another. I do think the real-world pedal complement of Helix is broader, though. (he says with a wink and a nudge... seems that's how you "inspire" new stuff in Fractal
)I hope Cliff never considers it “done“, and it’s awesome he still seems to have his foot on the gas. May he keep at it until the SSV2, Badlander and “Fractal Presents: Neural plugins“ update. (Grano, Cali etc)
There is still ground left to cover.
Honestly, I don't see Cliff launching that type of salvo against the Neural plugins. All of the "Archetype"-style white label amps are already there (e.g. BE100, JP2C, 5150, 5153, various Marshalls). Already got a legit Mark IIC and Soldano too. Already got a Fortin Grind pedal and a bazillion modded Marshalls to cover the ground of the Fortin Cali and Nameless. The Kraken lead channel is basically 5150 too. No one cares about the Natas. I guess that leaves the Granophyre, but for such a hyped amp...I've yet to hear a recording or live performance of one demonstrating any sort of unique tone.
Wouldn't mind more synth stuff like Rabea or maybe the Henson multivoicer, but for the rest.....old news.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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The current spring reverbs in the FM9 are objectively lacking. But the new ones in the Axe-FX are great. So that's a legitimate one.
Otherwise, there are a few things that seem like low-hanging fruit. A proper CE-1 model, for instance -- there's even a "roll-your-own" preset for it in the FM9, but why not have it as a dedicated effect type? (I'd also reaaaally love for it to be fully modeled with its crappy clippy pre-amp and hi/lo circuits, which each play a big role in its tone.)
Nitpicking aside, almost everything sounds so great that you can get what you need one way or another. I do think the real-world pedal complement of Helix is broader, though. (he says with a wink and a nudge... seems that's how you "inspire" new stuff in Fractal
The only thing the current spring reverbs in FM9 lack are boing and drip, but that's not my jam anyway. I use them all of the time for instant vintage-sounding tones for funk, blues and jazz.
OrganicZed
Roadie
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- 717
Okay, you can argue that the FM9 is an outlier amongst the FAS product lineup and the rate of firmware updates since the official release is not a fair analysis.
Lets look at the FM3 instead. They started shipping units in February of 2020, so they have been available for about 3.8 years now. There have been a total of 20 official release firmware updates since that time. Of those firmware updates there were five which were almost exclusively related to bug fixes (1.03, 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 5.01). That comes out to 15 substantive firmware updates over 3.8 years averaging 3.97 per year.
The Axe-FX III was released in January of 2018 (about 5.9 years ago) and there have been a total of 120 publicly available official release firmware updates since that time. Of those, 41 have been largely related to bug fixes. I'm not going to list them all, but feel free to verify my count yourself by going through the past firmware release notes found here https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/wiki/index.php?title=Firmware_release_notes_-_Axe-Fx_III. By my count the Axe-FX III platform has received 79 substantive official firmware releases since it was introduced averaging 13.38 per year.
Line6 released the Helix in June of 2015 (8.5 years ago) and have updated the firmware 29 times since then. . That comes to an average of 3.37 updates per year. I didn't bother going through their release notes and I'm not well acquainted with their product line, so perhaps some of those were mostly bug fixes. Feel free to correct my analysis if that is the case.
Like I said, It seems that the FM3 and FM9 are updated at a rate more similar to Line6 products than the Axe-FX III. I don't understand why this is a controversial statement that people feel the need to call out. Four firmware updates per year (FM3) is a lot closer to 3 firmware updates per year (Line6) than it is to 13 (Axe-FX III).
eggpl@nt
Roadie
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- 970
What you said makes sense, and shouldn’t be controversial. It’s not a slight to say that the FMx devices are updated at a slower cadence—it only becomes a slight (to some, maybe; not to me) when that cadence is likened to L6’s pace.
I guess for me, the difference between 4 and 13 ceases to matter when the content is nigh identical and the 4 are just consolidations of the difference.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
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- 17,879
As the owner of multiple Fractii; it does seem to move at a slower pace. And generally speaking (as the owner of an Axe III); I don't mind. It's basically the hardware equivalent of telling someone to download Native and you will know what owning a Helix is like. Sure it's the same stuff overall; but it is a different experience than getting that straight from the tap 24x7 drip of owning the III.
eggpl@nt
Roadie
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- 970
Didn’t the same happen more recently with the FM3 or am I completely imagining that?There was that one time that the FM9 got a feature before the Axe-Fx though.
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